In This World
by Just Call Me J
Summary: A teenage boy finds himself in the 2k3verse. Sounds like a dream come true for a TMNT fan, right? Well, reality slaps him in the face with a big fat NOPE as he needs to brave the cruel streets of New York City, all while hiding from Foot and Purple Dragons. He has no idea what he would even do if he met the turtles. After all, why should they believe that they were a kids' cartoon?
1. Chapter 1: Here and There

_Hello, everyone in the TMNT fanbase! I've decided to take a break from_ To Be _Home to write the first story of the_ This World _series. This is because the next chapter of_ TBH _is going to have something sad, but it won't make sense without the necessary sentimental value on the readers' part. And that requires backstory! So are you ready for this? Regardless, here we go!_

* * *

 **In This World – Chapter 1: Here and There**

* * *

"I'm heading out!" J called upstairs to his brother. "Are you sure you don't want to come with me?"

His brother answered from the living room behind him. "Where are you going again?"

J spun around. "Oh, you're down here. Anyway, I'm going to bike to the nature preserve and eat lunch there."

His brother gave him a funny look. "How are you going to carry your lunch there?"

J jerked a thumb over his shoulder, indicating his backpack. "I put it all in my lunchbox and put my lunchbox in here. I also have my thermos." It was actually a stainless steel water bottle, but J enjoyed calling it a thermos too much to stop.

J's brother shook his head. "No thanks."

"Are you sure? I already have a lunch for you made. The sandwich is in the fridge."

"I'll just eat here."

"Fine, fine," J threw his hands up in mock surrender. "See you later, then." The 16-year-old turned around and made his way to the back door.

"Have a nice lunch," his brother called after him. "And bike ride!"

"No guarantees!" J called back jokingly as he left, closing the door behind him.

The bike ride to the preserve's side entrance was rather uneventful. The side entrance itself wasn't actually an official entrance. All it was was a gap in the trees that separated the preserve from the public road, and a short ways through the gap was the preserve's path. The actual entrance was actually a longer trip from J's house, so the side entrance was more favorable. When J made it to the entrance, he dismounted from his bicycle and walked through the dirt and grass, pushing the bike alongside him.

J had made it halfway through the trees when a wasp flew up next to him. The boy froze, waiting for the wasp to pass him by. It didn't. J heard it fly up above him and hover around his bicycle helmet. J took off the helmet and threw it a few feet away. The wasp immediately followed the movement of the shiny blue object, but lost interest and flew off.

J took his cellphone out of his right pocket with the intent to text his brother about how frustrated that wasp made him. "Nah, he wouldn't care. It's a silly reason to text anyone, really," he said to himself. He shoved his phone back into his pocket, but he missed the hole completely and sent the cellphone down his thigh.

It bounced slightly off his knee and ricocheted off his toe, sending the device careening over to where J's helmet was in the dry grass. It was an older phone, so it wasn't damaged.

"Well that didn't work," J said as he walked to retrieve his possessions. But somewhere between his bike and his dropped items, the world changed dramatically.

 _ ***J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J***_

An olive green turtle leaned over his desk, writing furiously on one of several sheets of paper strewn about.

"Everything looks normal," he said as he looked between his notes and the screen on the new device next to them which displayed a map of the earth.

Suddenly, a voice interrupted his work. "Doooonniiiiiie!"

Donatello sighed and rolled his eyes. "What do you want, Mikey? I'm kind of busy here."

Michelangelo shook his head. "You've been in here for way too long, Donnie."

"Yeah," Raphael added, who Don hadn't noticed enter behind Mikey. "You've been workin' on… whatever this is," he pointed to the device the scientist had been fixated on, "ever since we had that dream."

"But—" Don started.

Mikey interrupted, imitating his brother, "'But we all know firsthand that there are other turtle teams in the multiverse, and we need to know if anything traverses our dimension's borders.' You gave us that speech like a million times, Don."

The brainy turtle stood up, getting exasperated with the two. "And I got the detector to work! The Utroms' research hasn't been wrong yet."

Raph crossed his arms. "And?"

"'And' what?"

"Has yer toy shown ya anything?"

Donatello faltered. "Well, not yet. But I'm sure we can ask the Daimyo or Renet to help with that." Suddenly he found himself moving involuntarily forward.

"Well, we can do that later," Michelangelo said as he pushed the purple-clad ninja out of his own lab, "we're going to be late."

"Late?" Don repeated. "Late for what?" His question prompted Raphael to flick him in the forehead. "Ow! Hey!"

"Earth to Donnie!" the emerald turtle taunted. "Casey and April are comin' back from their honeymoon. We were gonna surprise 'em at their apartment, remember?"

Donnie's eyes widened. "That's today?! Aw shell, how did I lose track of time?!"

"That's why you got us, dude," Mikey noogied the brainy turtle.

"We'd better go," Raph coaxed them. "Leo and Master Splinter are waiting for us in the tunnel. We don't want to make 'em wait too long and then get two ears-full."

Right after they left, Donatello's device emitted light _beep_ as a red dot lit up inside New York City.

* * *

 _I should probably explain a bit here. In this continuity, the movie_ Turtles Forever _was actually a shared dream among the turtles and Splinter after Casey and April's wedding._

 _Anyhoodles, please leave a review. What do you think of this so far, as a start to the_ This World _series? Tell me anything you did or didn't like about this. **Anything**. If you have any—and I mean __**any**_ _—questions, please ask! I don't bite. I don't support cannibalism._


	2. Chapter 2: And Now Here

_Well, friends, it's been much, much too long. But I WILL continue writing this, even if I have a ton of stuff keeping me from it. This "stuff" I'm talking about is real-life responsibilities. Must be a productive member of society and all that._

 _But enough about me — let's get on with the show!_

* * *

 **Chapter 2: And Now Here**

* * *

J swore his heart stopped when the world around him flashed to another environment entirely. One moment he was in between two trees, in the next, two tall buildings.

"What…?" he gasped. _What just happened?!_

He refused to believe he was dreaming. His heart was pounding too hard and quickly for him to be anything but awake.

"Where am I?"

The 16-year-old grabbed his cross necklace and clasped his hand around the three pewter nails. He turned his head rapidly every which way in a vain attempt to identify his new location.

It was an alley. Of that much he was sure.

"I'll need more details than that, though," he muttered as he walked towards the alley entrance.

When he reached the entrance he looked around again. He spotted a street sign, but was unfamiliar with the name printed on it. He then looked up the street.

J's heart leapt to his throat. Leering on the skyline was an angry red insignia shaped like an animal's foot with three pointed toes aimed upward. J recognized it immediately.

"The Foot? No—that's impossible," he murmured. But the tall building's silhouette was much too identical to what the young fanboy saw in the show. "It's probably just some fun, fan- or corporation-guided thing," he tried reasoning. But no matter how much he tried to explain around his situation, something in the back of J's mind bellowed, _This is real._ And also, much to his annoyance, _I wonder what it looks like in 3-D._

Regardless of J's doubt, he knew one thing for sure. _There are people that way, so I should probably head over that way to get help. And by "probably" I mean I'm going to go that way to get help. Not that I need to explain that to myself. Why am I pointing this out? Shut up, brain! ADHD is at it again…_ Such went J's runaway train of thought as he made his way down the surprisingly empty streets.

 _ ***J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J*J***_

Michelangelo moved like lightning in April's kitchen, whipping up a nice pork dinner to eat with Casey and April when they returned. To his brothers' mixed amusement and embarrassment, the goofball had insisted on bringing along and wearing his "Kiss the Cook" apron.

The kitchen wizard had been planning and perfecting this recipe in secret for weeks, with only Master Splinter knowing about it. He had seven boneless pork loins thawing. As he waited for the small slabs of meat to thaw enough, he tore apart bread and dropped the crumbs into a bowl of garlic butter. After the turtle had no whole bread left, he moved on to the next part of his masterpiece. He poured some sauerkraut into a small bowl.

"Sensei, can you toss me the tarragon?" he asked over his shoulder.

Splinter had been dicing carrots, string beans, and onions. At his son's request, the rat paused briefly in his task. "Of course, Michelangelo."

Splinter picked up the small plastic jar containing the dried tarragon leaves. He did exactly as Michelangelo had asked and tossed it the short distance between them. Without even turning his head, the young ninja reached up and effortlessly caught the container.

"Thanks, Sensei."

Mikey opened the jar and scooped up a small handful of dried tarragon leaves. He held said handful over the bowl of sauerkraut and crumpled his fingers, ripping the leaves and sending the shreds sprinkling into the bowl. When he was sure he had added enough, he dropped the leaves leftover in his hand back into the jar and closed it. Then he took a wooden spoon and stirred the sauerkraut and tarragon together, mixing it as evenly as possible.

Meanwhile, Leo, Raph, and Don were in charge of cleaning the apartment and setting the dining room table. Mikey had all but banned the three older turtles from the kitchen while he worked. Raph had taken it upon himself to set the table while the other two took to cleaning.

"Hey, Leo," Raph called as the eldest passed by, "which side do the napkins go on?"

Leonardo paused in his work and walked up to the table. "Since when do you care about proper table placement?"

The emerald turtle shrugged. "I figured since ya were cleanin' up, and with Mikey makin' some sorta gourmet meal, it couldn't hurt to make the table nice for Casey and April." He chuckled and added, "Well, for April, anyway. Casey don't care."

Leo couldn't help but grin at that comment. He looked at the table. "I've seen people do either side, I'm pretty sure both sides are acceptable. But properly, the napkin should go on the left of the plate, under the fork."

"Thanks." Raph went back to his task and started placing knives down.

Leo grabbed his hand after the first knife went on the table. The red-banded turtle looked at him quizzically.

Leo let go and pointed at the knife, which was currently facing the right. "The blade of the knife should be facing inward, Raph, towards the plate. It's safer."

Raph looked down at his handiwork. "Oh, oops." He flipped it over and continued.

Satisfied, the leader went back to assist Donatello.

Back in the kitchen, the pork loins had thawed and were now sitting comfortably in a large, flat, rectangular pan, on thin beds of Mikey's tarragon-seasoned sauerkraut. Splinter brought over a bowl filled with the diced vegetables, along with sweet corn kernels and green peas. Michelangelo took the bowl and decorated the meat and the extra sauerkraut surrounding the loins with the veggies. After that was done, he sprinkled a small bit of sauerkraut in the center of each piece of meat to finish. The orange-clad ninja stepped back from his masterpiece.

"Perfect!"

The cook picked up the pan with one hand. With the other, he opened the oven door. Mikey knelt down and checked the thermometer inside to make sure it was at the right temperature. Seeing that it was, he carefully removed the thermometer and slid the pan into the oven. As he closed the oven door, the sea green turtle took out his shell cell and set a timer.

At that moment, Don came into the kitchen. "April just called. Their flight landed and they're on their way now."

"Great!" Mikey replied, "They'll get here right when the food's ready to come out of the oven!" He pointed at his brother with the salad tongs. "You're still not allowed in the kitchen, though.

Don chuckled and raised his hands in mock surrender. "Don't kill the messenger."

Mikey winked. "Thanks for letting me know, Donnie. I'm done in here, anyway. Need any help with cleaning or setting the table?"

Don shook his head. "We're done out here, too."

Splinter approached his younger sons. "Then perhaps we should all wait in the living room for Casey and April to arrive. I am sure they would appreciate seeing all of us ready to greet them."

They left the kitchen and joined Raph and Leo.

"Well," Raph greeted them, "look who's finally out of the kitchen."

"It took some convincing," Don joked, nudging Mikey.

"Don't brag about something you didn't do, Donnie," Mikey replied. "Master Splinter was the only one who said anything about coming out here."

Before Don could defend himself, Leo stood up. "It's a good thing you have a break, though. We need to talk."

Mike and Don looked at each other, then at Splinter, hoping their sensei knew what this was about.

Master Splinter shook his head and took a seat. "What is it, Leonardo?" the rat asked.

"Raph and I were already talking about this before you came out," Leo began, "and we wondered how we should tell Casey and April about that dream we had, and how soon."

"That implies that we're going to tell them," Don pointed out, "which is good, because they deserve to know."

Raph and Leo nodded. "We could tell them when they get here, but that might ruin Mikey's dinner."

Mikey sat on the armrest beside Raph. "Dudes, Casey might ruin my dinner, and we're still letting him in. We might as well do it before he does."

"No," Master Splinter said. "We should enjoy their return and their company first. They are only just returning. We should not worry them as soon as they walk in the door."

"So…" Don replied, leaning on his bō staff, "Some time after dinner, maybe? I know I'd feel better if we told them today. I don't want to keep secrets like that anymore." He looked out the window, remembering a frightful world.

"Hey, maybe it ain't that bad, Donnie," Raph stood and wrapped an arm around his brother's shoulders. "We just had a dream, y'know?"

"A shared dream," Leo corrected him. "We all had it at the same time. And Karai, too. Something like that doesn't just happen."

Mikey spoke up. "And if there's anything Justice Force comics have taught me, it's that when everyone has the same dream, something big is about to go down." The other turtles rolled their eyes while the youngest continued, "Remember when we all dreamed about the demon Shredder attacking Karai?"

Leonardo shook his head. "How could I forget? I don't think I've ever been so afraid as I was during Shredder's rampage."

Raph facepalmed and growled, "Then what the shell is the new dream supposed to mean?!"

Donatello cleared his throat, prompting everyone to look at him. "I may have written down a few potential interpretations. Unfortunately, all my notes are back in the lair…"

Master Splinter's ears perked up. "Perhaps we should save the speculation for later. I believe Casey and April have arrived."

The others jumped to their feet and looked out the window. Sure enough, there was April's van, with the happy couple getting ready to unload their luggage.

Mikey was the first to scramble out the door to eagerly greet them. The others followed quickly after to join him and help their friends bring everything inside. Master Splinter waited by the door, watching proudly as his family reunited.

* * *

 _That just felt like a good spot to end the chapter at. So J hasn't run into anyone yet._

 _Did I mention that Karai had the dream, too?_

 _Any questions, comments, concerns, critiques, snide remarks?_


End file.
